Display carton



Oct. 28, 1941. J. M. BARR ETAL v 2,260,428 I DISPLAY QARTON Filed May 3, 1938 Patented Oct. 28, 1941 DISPLAY CARTON James M. Barr, Medford, and Thomas F. vSmallcomb, South Boston, Worcester Paper Box Corporation, Medford, Mass, a corporation of Massachusetts Application May s, 1938, Serial No. 205,714

3 Claims.

This invention relates to an improvement in a display carton, and more particularly in a parallelepipedal carton adapted to be used for the shipment as well as for the display of goods contained therein.

Rectangular cartons lend themselves best to handling in shipment, since they can be easily stacked. The goods therein being upright are not, however, so completely displayed as in 'a rhomboidal carton, the front and back walls of which are inclined rearwardly and in which th goods are similarly inclined.

The primary object of this invention is to provide a carto n, the side and bottom walls of which are secured to the front and back walls thereof, so that the goods are firmly supported therein and in which the back wall includes a scored porbodiment of the invention and of the accompanying drawing which forms a part thereof, and in which:

Fig. 1 is a plan view of one form of blank from which a carton embodying this invention is made;

Fig. 2 is a perspective View of a carton embodying this invention, 'such carton being in the,

form of a rectangular parallelepiped for shipping goods;

Fig. 3 is a similar view of that carton in the form of a rhomboidal parallelepiped for the display of goods therein;

Figs. 4 and 5 are cross sectional views cartons shown in Figs. 2 and 3, respectively; and

Fig. 6 is a plan view of another form of blank from which such carton may be made.

The blank of cardboard or the like shown in Fig. 1 which is folded and assembled to form the carton, comprises portions separated from each other by score lines in the manner well known in this industry, and constituting the front Wall 20, back wall 2|, side walls 22 and bottom wall 23 of the carton. At the ends of the bottom wall 23 are formed flaps 24 separated therefrom by score lines. These flaps may or may not be provided, and when the carton is assembled rest of the Mass., .assignors to against the inner faces of the side walls 22. At one'end of one side wall 22 is formed a flap 25 separated therefrom by a score line. -The front wall is preferably provided with a recess 26 extending from the upper edge thereof and at the lower edge with a flap 21 separated therefrom by a score line and provided at each end with an ear 28. In the bottom wall are formed slots 29.

Thefront and back walls are connected by one of the side walls 22. The bottom wall 23 is joined to the back wall 2| along the score line 30. In the back wall 2|, parallel to and spaced from the line 30, are provided score lines 3| and 32 for a reason to b disclosed later. The lower edges of the portions forming the side walls 22 are inclined, the score lines 33 separating the side walls 22 from the front wall 2|] being of the same length as the score line 34 separating the side wall and the back wall. The fiap is separated from the back wall by a score line 35 of the same length as the score line 34. The score line 32 leads from the lower edge of the connecting side wall 22. The portion of the back wall above the score line 32 is of the same height as the front wall 20.

Formed centrally of the back wall 2| is a semicircular tab 36 defined by a slot, the ends of which terminate at the score line 32. At the upper edges of the back wall 2| and side walls 22 are formed flaps 31 and 38, respectively. The flaps 31 and 38 are separated from the walls by score lines 39 and 4B. The flap 3'! and the flap 38 on the connecting side wall 22 are integral and defined by a score line 4|. The flap 38 on the other side wall 22 is provided with a flap 42 in alignment with the flap 25 and separated therefrom by a notch 43. The flap 42 is defined by a score line 44, a, continuation of the score line 35. The flaps 38 are each provided with a score line 45, that on the flap adjacent the flap 3! bisecting the angle formed by the score lines and 4|, and that on the other flap bisecting the angle formed by the score lines 40 and 44.,

The contents of the carton may be protected as by a cover 5|! divided into portions 5| and 52 by a score line 53. The length of the portion 5| is preferably the same as that of the bottom wall 23, and the length of the portion 52 is the same as the distance between the score lines 32 and 39 of the back wall 2|. The cover 5|] further functions as a display card, as will appear hereinbelow.

In assembling and forming the carton, the. blank is first bent on the score lines 33, 33, 34, 35 and 44, and the flap 25, which bears against the inner face of the back wall 2| and the fiap to receive ears I06 on the flap I82.

42 which bears against the inner face of the flap 31, are secured thereto in any desired manner, preferably by adhesive. The blank is then bent on the score line to bring the bottom wall 23 into contact with the lower edge of the front wall, in which position it is secured by the flap 21 bent at right angles to the front wall. The ears 28 on the flap 2'! are slipped through the slots 29 in the bottom wall to hold it firmly in place. The flap 2! may also be glued to the bottom wall, the ears 28 and slots 29 being omitted.

After the carton has been thus set up itis filled with goods usually in the form of boxesfiO standing upright, as shown in Fig. ,5-,thetab 36 is pressed forward and the cover slid down the inner face of the back wall until thelower edge is held by the tab. The score line 53 on the cover coincides with the score line 39 on the back wall. The side flaps 38 are bent inwardly on the score lines 40, 4|, 44 and 45, and the flap 31 is bent forwardly with the portion 5I until the position shown in Figs. 2 and 4 is reached. The carton' is now parallelepipedal in contour and ready for shipping. I

When the carton is to be used to display the goods in the rhomboidal position shown in Figs.

3 and 5-, the portion 5| of the cover and the flaps 31 and 38 are raised, and by pressing the cover downwardly against the tab 35 the portion of the back wall below the scoreline 32 is caused to bend on the score lines 3I and 32, thus lowering the remainder of the back wall. By reason of thec onnection of the back wall with the front wall through the side walls, the front and back walls-are inclined rearwardly together with the boxes 60, as shown in Fig. 5. The portions of the back wall between the score lines 39 and SI and '3l and 32 rest upon each other and serve as an easel 55 to support the back wall in its tilted position. The coverbeing slid behind the boxes is held upright thereby (see Fig. 5), so that the exposed face of the'portion 5| serves as a display card. 3

The flaps 24 rest against the inner face of the side walls 22 and, as shown in the drawing, the end edges 56 are so formed that when the carton is in theshipping position (see Figs. 2 and 4) they serve as a supplementary support for the back wall 2 I' and the end edges 51 are so formed that when the carton is in the display position (see Figs. 3 and 5), they serve as'a supplementary support for the front wall, thus reinforcing and stiffening the carton in both positions The flaps also serve, when the carton is in the shipping position, to close the gaps between the lower edges of the side walls 22 and the bottom wall 23. When the contents of the carton are in the form of boxes, as sug ested above, the flaps 24 may, if desired, beomitted.

The blank shown in Fig. 6. differs from that shown in Fig. l in that the back wall is made in two separate portions Hill-and IHI adapted to be removably joined by a flap I92 onthe portion I00 and slots I83 in the portion I ill positioned Attached to the front wall I04 are the side walls I05, one of which connects the portion IilI of the back wall to the front wall. This blank corresponds inother. respects to the blank shown in Fig. 1, and the similar elements are indicated on Fig. 6 by numerals which designate the relationship, and hence further detailed description'thereof is not set forth herein,

In setting up a carton from the blank shown followed in general except that in this case the portions I00 and HH of the back wall are connected. The cover 50 may be used with this form of carton if desired. The carton is converted from a rectangular parallelepiped to a rhomboidal parallelepiped by applying backward pressure upon the boxes in the carton or by applying downward pressure to the back wall. In response to either pressure the lower portion I00 of the back wall will be folded and the upper portion IOI thereof be depressed. The edges I56 ofthe flaps I24 rest against the back wall to stiffenthe carton as a rectangular parallelepiped, and the edges I51 thereof rest against the front wall to stiffen the carton as a rhomboidal parallelepiped. I

Asshown in the drawing, the cartons are provided with separate cover elements (numbered 50 in Figs. 2 and 3). It will be noted that the portion 5| serves merely as an extension of the flap 3?. Obviouslytherefore the flap 3'! may be extended to take the place of the portion 5|, under which'jco'nditions the separate cover element is omitted. The flap I31 of the blank shown in Fig. 6 may be extended in the same manner and with similar results.

While two forms of blanks from which cartons embodying this invention may be formed have been-shown and described, it will be understood that we are not limited thereto, and that other forms may be made without departing fromthe spirit and scope of this'invention as set forth in the following claims.

We claim:

'1. A display carton which maybe used for shipping as a rectangular parallelepiped and which may be converted into a rhomboidalparallelepiped for the purpose of displaying its contents, said carton comprising front, back, side and bottom walls, the front and back walls being connected by the side and bottom Walls, the back wall being integrally connected to the bottom wall along a score line extending throughout the width of the bottom wall, said back wall having also two spaced score lines adjacent to and in spaced parallel relation to the first-mentioned score line, the bottom edges of the side walls being spacedfrom the bottom wall and extending from the bottom edge of the front wall to the uppermost of the last-mentioned score lines in the back wall, said bottom wall having integral side flaps extending upwardly in contact with the inner side of the respective side Walls, each of said flaps having its rear free edge normal to itsline of junction with the bottom wall and its front free edgerearwardly inclined from such line of junction, said flaps functioning to support said carton in either its upright or reclined positions.

2. A display carton which may be used for shipping as a rectangular parallelepiped and which may be converted into a rhomboidal parallelepiped for the purpose of displaying its contents, said cartoncomprising front, back, side and bottom walls, the front and backwalls being connected by the side and bottom walls, the back wall being integrally connected to the bottom wall along a score line extending throughout the width of the bottom wall, said back wall having in Fig; he procedure previously described is most of the last-mentioned score lines in the back wall, the back wall being so Iolded along said score lines when the carton is a rhomboidal parallelepiped that the portion between the lowermost score line and the intermediate score line becomes an extension of the bottom wall, the portion between intermediate score line and the uppermost score line rests upon said first-named portion and the back wall rests on the bottom wall along the uppermost score line while the bottom edges of the side walls are in the plane of the bottom wall.

3. A display carton comprising front, back, side and bottom walls, the back wall being connected to the front wall by the side walls and also by the bottom wall, the side walls being independent of the bottom wall and having bottom edges which extend rearwardly and upwardly from the line of joinder of the front and bottom walls to points on the back wall spaced from the bottom wall, said back wall being connected to said bottom wall along a score line extending throughout the width of the back wall and being provided with a pair of score lines parallel to the first-named score line and extending throughout the width of the back wall, the uppermost score line connecting the points of joinder of the bottom edges of the side walls with the back wall and the other score line being midway between the uppermost score line and the score line along which the back wall is integrally connected to the bottom wall.

JAMES M. BARR. v

THOMAS F. SMALLCOMB. 

